Time flies where the end of the year has passed and Techsauce is about to be one year old real soon. Nevertheless, we still have the same team that has been together in Thailand’s startup industry since the beginning with Thumbsup and HUBBA. First of all we would like to say thank you to all of our followers who have been following our works for all this time. Ever though it is still a small society of operators in Thailand, but the team remains committed and intend to continue to be a part that helps push for a better and stronger startup ecosystem here. So let us look at what have happened to the Kingdom’s startup ecosystem in the past year.

Large Corporates, Innovation, and Cooperation with Startup

Large enterprises in other countries have been paying attention to startup for a while now including projects to accelerate and incubate and developers such as Hackathon. They have been providing many supportive programs to help startup and there are many reasons for that which includes the search for new innovation via existing facilities, market channels, and customer bases that could be collaborate with startup in search for new business opportunities.

There are also startups that are facing various challenges and they are at risk from the rapid growth of tech startup industry so businesses of all sizes must try to turn crisis into opportunity. When looking into Thailand the most standout supportive projects are in the communication industry. This includes projects such as AIS The StartUp, dtac Accelerate, and last year we were also seeing movement in the tourism sector such Amadeus and Skyscanner. Other programs involved online agency such as the Dentsu Media Lab while the banking industry is also getting more involve. Some companies have set up workshop and they have sent their employees to seminars to see how the world of startup is faring right now and to look for new opportunities as well.

Fintech is Getting HOT!

Lots of businesses have been disrupted and they have to change their business model to incorporate with technology in the past decade while many financial businesses in various countries are also facing the same changes.

This development will take many years in Thailand because of regulation barriers and requirement for permission from the state but 2015 was the first year where large banks are providing more support such as theKrungsri Uni Startup 2015, the partnering up between Kasikorn Bank and Advance Info Service “The Startup in 2015”, CIMB Bank’s Fintech Fast Track 2015, and Siam Commercial Bank who is also looking to launch a fund to support tech startup as well.

There are many pairs of eyes that are fixing on Thailand’s startups right now such as StockRadars, Jitta, Omise, Flowaccount, Digio,Satangdee, Dreammaker, Meefund and many other important sectors including the insurance sector such as ClaimDi which has received Series A supportive fund and you can look for more detail on tech startup in Fintech’s field at this report here.

Ecommerce, Gaming, Logistic Startup

According to Thailand Tech Startup Ecosystem Report 2015, the three top startups that have received the most support were e-commerce, gaming and logistic startups and Thai startup has continued to be outstanding in the fields of food, tourism and agriculture. We expects to see more tech startup to support these sectors including Food Tech, Travel Tech and Agri-Tech and businesses also require specific expertise such as Adtech (Advertising Tech) which is still lacking here in Thailand.

The Heating up of Competition within the Logistic Startup Field

The logistic field has gained one of the most attentions from businesses which means that that they are in the front line when comes to the opportunity to received funding but there are many competition here at home, and abroad, and even though their target audience might not necessary be the same but the level of competition will continue to be at the highest level this year and in the years to come.

Startup is Entering Mainstream News but True Understanding is Still Limited

It is good to see startup popping up in mainstream media including television, newspapers, magazines, and seminars which allowed the industry to be more well-known and they have provided better clarification on how startup is differ from small and medium enterprises (SME) but more time is still require before a real understanding regarding startup can be truly realized by the mass. The point that has to be made is that SMEs can transform technology and used them with the existing domain expert that they have to increase the potential of their businesses and this is Techsauce’s main mission next year.

Apart from entering the mainstream media there were also introductions of venture capitals in Thailand last year and many news outlets have interviewed investors in order to explained about investment with startup and their unique investment policies including 500 Tuk Tuks which was quite active with the highest level of seed fund in Thailand along with Invent and their investment at the Series A level.

For this year, we will have to follow the trend and you can look for more interesting update here real soon.